ECO Canada recently issued an Environmental Job Market Trends Report that shows that the environmental job market rebounded in Canada last year with 22.7 thousand job ads, reflecting a 9% increase from 2016 levels. On the other hand, total job ads peaked in 2014 at 1.30 million, decreased to 1.07 million by 2016 (a drop of 18%) and slightly dipped in 2017 with 1.05 million job ads, reflecting a 2% decline.

Employment increases within key industries that employ a number of environmental workers, which includes professional, scientific and technical services;

Resurgence in goods-producing sectors such as manufacturing, construction, and energy; and

Provincial governments implementing climate change plans.

The report states that Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia are the provinces that have consistently shown the most demand for environmental professionals between 2014 and 2017.

Managers in financial and business services had the highest job ad growth rate with close to 30%, from 1,090 job ads in 2016 to 1,410 in 2017. Agriculture/horticultural workers, technical inspectors/regulatory officers and engineers, with an environmental function attached to the roles, remained the most sought-after positions with 2,870, 3,020 and 2,110 job ads in 2017 respectively.

ECO Canada develops programs that help individuals build meaningful environmental careers, provides employers with resources to find and keep the best environmental practitioners and informs educators and governments of employment trends to ensure the ongoing prosperity of Canada’s growing environmental sector.